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Chambers welcome setting up Asia-Pacific Tax ForumKarachi (Staff Reporter): Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Vice President have welcomed the proposal to setting up Asia-Pacific Tax Forum, under the aegis of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). He said that ESCAP in order to get advantages of best practices in Asia and the Pacific countries regarding Tax Legislations, regulations and procedures including the avoidance of double taxation giving an incentive to foreign investors and to bring reforms in their own tax collection system.Ismail proposed Asia-Pacific Tax Forum may induce the countries like Pakistan to seriously work on the harmonisation of tax regime and to tackle the tax evasion and tax fraud issues creating efficiency in the tax administration.The broadening of tax base will bring more revenue and result into bringing down the discount rate that will induce the industrial investment and also facilitate the government to pay less mark-up on the outstanding loans leaving enough funds for infrastructure development projects.

OGDC announces 14.02mmcfd gas discoveryLAHORE (Staff Reporter): The OGDC has announced hydrocarbon discovery in its operated Pasakhi Deep Well 04. The well was drilled down to 3,460 meter where the hydrocarbon was tested in the Lower Guru Formation. The size of the discovery stands at 14.02mmcfd of gas and 125bpd of oil. It is pertinent to note that the company is further pursuing exploratory drilling in 7 more wells (4 wells are nearing completion) mainly in gas rich Sindh and Balochistan regions. Fuelled by currency appreciation and robust international oil prices, the state-run Oil and Gas Development Company Limited posted a record Rs124b profit in 2013-14, up 36 per cent over the previous year.The company recorded improvement in its production volumes, reaching an average daily net crude oil and gas production of 41,330 barrels and 1,173 million cubic feet (mmcf). Moreover, average daily production of LPG also increased by 25 tons.

LCCI to hold Ambassador’s Dinner in honour of foreign diplomatsLAHORE (Staff Reporter): President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain will be the chief guest of LCCI Ambassador’s dinner being held on August 9th at President House Islamabad. The LCCI President Engineer Sohail Lashari, Senior Vice President Mian Tariq Misbah, Vice President Kashif Anwar and Chairman Standing on Diplomatic, Foreign Missions Haroon Arora will also address the high-level gathering. Ambassadors, diplomats and Federal ministers will grace the prestigious function of the LCCI. LCCI Annual Ambassador’s Dinner is primarily arranged to reinforce the working relations with the Heads of Foreign Missions and also to lay a solid foundation to establish closer and deeper contact with them.

Training on agri practices concludes

RAWALPINDI (Israr Ahmed): A two-day training course on “Global GAP and Organic Certification” ended at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University here on Friday. The training focusing on Global GAP (good agricultural practices) general rules, farm, crop base covering fruit and vegetable and organic product certification, was organised by PMAS-AAUR. About 25 highly experienced scholars, professors and engineers participated and exchanged their views with Chinese delegation and appreciated the course. The objective of training was documentation for implementation of the global GAP/organic framework for the fruit and vegetables and to provide awareness on organic standard requirements to increase the exports.Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad, vice chancellor PMAS-AAUR, while addressing as chief guest highlighted the importance of the training. He said that by adopting modern agricultural practices and acquiring international export certifications, Pakistan has got significant growth in export of fruits and vegetables. Despite this growth, the country still shares a negligible percentage of the global merchandise in fruit and vegetable, he added.

Farmers advised to sow turnip

MULTAN (APP): Agriculture experts have advised farmers to begin sowing of turnip in the current month.In a press release issued by the media liaison unit of the Punjab agriculture department, experts said that farmers should select fertile land with water drainage facility. Fields be ploughed once by machine to bring ground soil to the surface and two to three times by traditional methods. Land leveller be applied after every ploughing and a bag each of DAP and potash fertilizers be applied per acre at the time of sowing. One kilogram healthy seed having better germination strength be sown per acre. Turnip varieties including ‘Desi Surkh’, purple top, or golden ball (Faisalabad) be sown for better produce.

The field be divided into 10-marla sections and beds be prepared while maintaining 75 centimetres distance. Lines be drawn on both sides of the beds maintaining depth of 1.5 cm. Seed along with soft soil be put into the lines and then be covered with soil by hand.Water be applied after sowing in a way that it should not reach beds and only moisture reaches the seed. Water be repeated two to three times after every week and this duration should later be increased up to 14 days. Experts said that the crop should not be left water stressed or dry. Trimming be done to maintain plant to plant distance at 8-10 cm when three to four leaf bud out.Hoeing be performed 20-25 days after sowing to remove weeds and then soil be put around the plant trunks and half bag of Urea be applied per acre.Anti-fungus spray be applied after consulting agriculture extension and pest warning officials in case of disease attack.